The Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (4 Viewers)

[matt#1]

Fergie will sign a quality striker during the transfer period at the end of the season. Mark my words. Until then, however, I believe that we should keep faith in the well-balanced squad that has taken us to the top of the premiership table. Apart from a few minor blemishes...our record this season has been absolutely brilliant and United fans have every reason to start getting carried away with our current form. The loan signing of such an intelligent and effective player like Larsson can only help us to achieve our various domestic and european goals.

 

[LMF^^]

Okay, take it easy guys....

Wow, what a pleasant random surprise.

We can't be the same as Chelsea due to the difference in our financial status. We've got Rooney, and he cost 27million big ones. It has been suggested that we would pay Bayern something like 15million to get Hargreaves, but they still refuse to accept so there's nothing you can do about that one. United have to be very careful in the transfer market, since Chelscum will always be there to hijack the deals, as we've seen with Robben Obi Mikel, Ballack and Essien.

Be aggressive in the market...? That means offering them 100K+ weekly wages right...? Not the logical way to operate a business. Although the club is owned by some American faggot family, I still don't want them to get ruined and start to fight for relegation due to bad management and bad decisions in the transfer market.

 

[Led-Zep]

i really do hope that SAF signs a quality, youthful striker eg torres, in the summer, but that is too far away, we needed that type of action in january if we wish to fight for the title, remember we still have to visit arsenal,liverpool and chelsea. plus play in ecl, and fa cup. the squad is a "team" but it isnt a team with great depth, and i think this will begin to play a big role, when we have to go to our rivals and if we are competing in more than 1 or 2 comps. this is were chelski have a massive advantage, and i dont think oshea and fletch can do that for us, rossi is unproven, and richardson tries hard but still no end result.

i am very optimistic and will not stop thinkin we can win the league until that day comes, hopefully it doesnt, but i wont get carried away and declare ourselves champs before the turn of the new year, we must be realistic. I just hope chelsea lose next wknd, and we continue on winning to maintain a gap, we NEED that gap desperatley, it is a necessity, 3 points or more is what we need, so when we do lose a game or 2 we will still be in the race.

 

[matt#1]

i really do hope that SAF signs a quality, youthful striker eg torres, in the summer, but that is too far away, we needed that type of action in january if we wish to fight for the title.

How can you say that "we need (to sign a quality, youthful striker, eg-Torres) in January if we wish to fight for the title?" We have already made massive strides towards the title with just Rooney, Saha and Solskjaer.

Soon we will also have Larsson, Rossi and a fully fit again Alan Smith. Read through that list again and you will see that it is quite clear that we are not in desperate need of any more strikers. I do agree, however, that Larsson should be replaced by a younger, equally talented striker during the summer.

Fergie has also signalled his intent on purchasing a midfielder during January...and Park Ji Sung will also be back to full fitness. Add the new signing and Park to our already impressive list of midfielders, i.e- Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, O'Shea, Richardson...and it is also quite clear that we have more than adequate depth of quality in our midfield.

As for the defence...we have conceded the least goals in the league thus far, and there is massive competition for places in most positions. I believe that Evra and Vidic were brilliant signings by Fergie last January...and there is surely no need to purchase any more defenders.

To conclude, I guess that I have just been trying to confirm that we already have more than enough depth, balance and quality right across the park. Larsson will prove to be more than a useful signing until Fergie purchases a younger, world-class striker during the summer and we should also see a quality midfield player arrive at Old Trafford during January to further strengthen our bid for both domestic and european glory.

Forca United!

 

[timlay]

we have rooney. and 5 others.
rooney is a world class striker. there's only one spot left.
i think we have enough.
saha has been doing pretty well too.

 

[Led-Zep]

i know united have a host of strikers but in terms of fitness and form we only have to, rooney and saha, solskjaer is injured and wont be able to perform week in week out, rossi is untested and lacks match sharpness and smith still has a while to go till he gets back to his leeds form, if he can, so with 2 fit firing strikers we definetly need another one, saha will most likely get injured (typical of him) so that would leave rooney capable of filling that position, but as the world cup showed he cant play as a lone striker. Now i know we would have solksjaer filling in, and possible rossi or smith, but for how long can they do that and would they be able to do it all the time? Which is y we need a new forward at least to bring cover for the loss of rooney or saha.

Midfield we do need one more in the mould of a gattuso, although i wouldnt mind seeing a attacking midfielder brought in. Defense is great ive always said united have a better defence than we are made out to have, so we are set there.

We have a bigger team, but in terms of players coming in able to change or influence a game, we have none, without rooney, ronaldo, giggs, scholes, carrick and saha, we have noone able to do that, our overall depth of quality players is lacking, which is my main concern of us being able to compete to the final day of the season. Larsson will be good for us, im confident of that, but he will only be here for 3 months, what about april and may? what if rooney is gone, saha is injured, ronaldo is injured, if just 3 or 4 high profile players are missing, it will affect our game and that is what worries me. But for now im confident that we will be challenging for the title, and i hope, Prey Arsenal beat or draw with chelsea.

 

[LMF^^]

i know united have a host of strikers but in terms of fitness and form we only have to, rooney and saha, solskjaer is injured and wont be able to perform week in week out, rossi is untested and lacks match sharpness and smith still has a while to go till he gets back to his leeds form, if he can, so with 2 fit firing strikers we definetly need another one, saha will most likely get injured (typical of him) so that would leave rooney capable of filling that position, but as the world cup showed he cant play as a lone striker. Now i know we would have solksjaer filling in, and possible rossi or smith, but for how long can they do that and would they be able to do it all the time? Which is y we need a new forward at least to bring cover for the loss of rooney or saha.

Larsson will provide good cover, so there's the problem solved for the moment.

Midfield we do need one more in the mould of a gattuso, although i wouldnt mind seeing a attacking midfielder brought in. Defense is great ive always said united have a better defence than we are made out to have, so we are set there.

Milan are unlikely to let him go, so we need to look at other options. Hargreaves would be good, but Bayern don't seem too keen either.

We have a bigger team, but in terms of players coming in able to change or influence a game, we have none, without rooney, ronaldo, giggs, scholes, carrick and saha, we have noone able to do that, our overall depth of quality players is lacking, which is my main concern of us being able to compete to the final day of the season. Larsson will be good for us, im confident of that, but he will only be here for 3 months, what about april and may? what if rooney is gone, saha is injured, ronaldo is injured, if just 3 or 4 high profile players are missing, it will affect our game and that is what worries me. But for now im confident that we will be challenging for the title, and i hope, Prey Arsenal beat or draw with chelsea.

I don't think there are many players in the world who can replace Rooney and Ronaldo in a team like United right now, their importance and influence is just too great to us right now. But imagine if the same was to happen to other teams, if Terry was injured, Essien was injured, Henry was injured, Gerrard was injured, they'll have a hard time as well. Maybe Chelsea do have quality backup sitting on the bench in terms of Joe Cole, Robben, Wright-Phillips etc, but I'm pretty sure they aren't enjoying it that much. Sooner or later they'll voice their disapproval and that's when shit may start to happen for them. We don't want that at United, there's no need for such distractions. What happened with Ruud last season did affect our performances I believe, and if the same was to happen to Chelsea, I believe it's likely that their performances on the pitch will also be affected.

 

[Led-Zep]

but thats the thing, chelsea have such a huge squad they can cope with losses to essien, terry etc..and in terms of harmony they seem to be doing quite well, u would have thought, at least i did, that there would be a few pissed off players complaining to the media right about now, but that doesnt seem to be the case except for SWP. Even tho they aint playin as good as last season, they are still winning, that is a scary thought, now we are playing fantastic football and winnin in style, bar boro and benfica game, id like us to have a few bad games and come out with wins.

I didnt necessarily mean gattusso, i meant we need a similar type player or a attacking minded midfielder like scholsey to come in just to give us some extra cover.Personally id be happy with 2 players coming in january, thats excluding larsson, even if they are younger at least it gives us more options attacking wise and greater depth in midfield to cover injuries and suspensions. Anyway im lookin forward to us beating benfica this week and securing passage to round of 16. i think cronaldo will have a point to prove against this team

 

[timlay]

anyone remember shevchenko?
he was in such a bad touch that game, that even when he was FREE. and closer to the goal, the guy (obi mikel maybe?) just had a shot rather than to pass it to andriy. harmonious?

but yeah, im pretty sure man utd has a pretty good youth academy. who knows, there might be a future star lurking in there somewhere.

 

[Led-Zep]

well by harmonious i just mean there are hardly any reports of change room brawls or the like similar to the wenger/henry thing goin on now, or for a local perspective petroski and butcher, u never hear of any chelsea players complaining to the media, perhaps personally they are fairly frustrated but it doesnt come out in the media and it hasnt unsettled the team thus far, top in ecl, 2nd in epl, threw in carling cup, etc...it doesnt appear that the team will be unsettled if they keep winning,which is y we need to get stronger to truly knock them off the perch.

And we have had luck with our academy, tho there isnt one real star emerging thus far, pique is looking decent, rossi unproven, i mean what are the chances of another giggs, scholes, neville beckham?

 

[...]

academy wise we are pretty solid

i mean few season ago we have richardson (to be fair he is decent, just that he has to play second fiddle to giggs)
fletcher is not bad, i mean, if you throw him into any other team (bar chelski and liverpool) in the league, he would easily be in the starting XI.
rossi is unproven, but the fact he scores 20+ goals for 2 seasons in a row for the reserves, is one thing (you can say it is reserve standard, but he is consistent), Pique is on loan atm, to gain valuable experience..so youth wise we are ok

 

[Led-Zep]

yes we are, although we dont really have any RMs coming in? apart from park who can play there, we havnt got anyone else, im exlcudin ronaldo of course, and LM also, apart from richardson we havnt got anyone comin in...united have always been a side that plays with wingers so im slightly annoyed at the fact we dont have decent youth wingers in the mould of walcott or SWP, and of course strikers..other positions are fine defence, gk, even midfield seems ok for now, tho needs to be strenghend. anywho, hoping for a great game with benfica.

 

[hachoo]

When Ronaldo was out against Liverpool, Fletcher played Wide on the right with Carrick and Scholes in the centre. Fletcher plays a good solid right wing, not necessarily the attacking run style like Ronaldo does, but solid passer and crosser.

I reckon if you chucked Fletcher into Liverpool at the moment, he'd start. Pennant and Gonzalez aren't doing too well at the moment. With Kewell injured, he's bound to get a start... if he played for them that is

 

[Led-Zep]

gee i think anyone could start for liverpool these days! tho they did have a great win over the wknd.

 

[timlay]

lol. in that case!
*flies to liverpool and asks for a place in the starting 11*

 

[HotShot]

gee i think anyone could start for liverpool these days! tho they did have a great win over the wknd.

There is huge take-over bid for Liverpool from some Sheikh- looks like liverpool will be the future stars - with that kind of financial backing- 5th richest dude in the world.

 

[Led-Zep]

yes i heard bout that. though on football365.com it said they would not spend like chelsea, although with that kind of cash why not! i mean how many years ...18 goin on 19 now....

 

[LMF^^]

Liverpool have wanted a sugar daddy for a long time now, maybe now's the time to get it.

Nice to see us in another comeback win again, what a wonderful goal though by Nelson, it wouldn't have happened had Saha picked him up in the first place. But it was a blessing in disguise to be honest, the game was dull and boring before that, and we came back brilliantly. Vidic has to be one of United's best players of this season, if not one of the best going around in Europe. Nice to see us put the game to bed with time to spare, so we can rest some legs in preparation for the derby. Can't wait to go 9 points clear at the top.

Gee how shitty are Milan going, you must wonder. Although they have qualified, playing so badly at home just isn't right. Domestically they are poor as well. If Liverpool fans think their team is going bad, spare a thought for Milan.

 

[Led-Zep]

very good win for united today, hopefully playing in 2 comps, soon 3, wont tire out the legs of giggs,scholes etc... im pleased lets just get a reasonable draw for the next round, personally i would prefer to win the epl just cause of my hatred of cheslki, but i wouldnt say no to a ecl cup either.

 

[timlay]

yeahr!

i was kind of worried at 1-0.

good fightback.

real had a good fightback too. courtesy of ronaldo. 2 goals in last few minutes gave real a 2-2 draw.